Zakir Yusof will be trying to defend his junior 60kg national title in Porirua this week.
Whenever Wellington teenager Zakir Yusof steps inside the boxing ring, he is determined to make proud all those who have supported his journey from refugee to national champion.
Born in Afghanistan but raised in neighbouring Pakistan, Yusof arrived in New Zealand in 2017 with his mother and two brothers. He couldn’t speak English and spent his first weeks in a refugee camp.
That’s where he met his father, who had left when Yusof was a baby to try to build a better life for the family, for the first time.
Adjusting to a new country brought its challenges. Yusof found himself being bullied and in a bid to defend himself he joined the Naenae Boxing Academy in Lower Hutt, where David Graham is the head coach.
Seven years later, Yusof, now 16, is the reigning New Zealand junior 60kg champion. If he successfully defends his title at next week’s national championships in Porirua he could secure qualification for the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal.
But for Yusof, boxing has become more than self-defence. It has given him discipline, purpose and ambition.
“I used to just be a fat little kid, eating and playing around every day, not knowing what I’d do with my life,” Yusof said. “But this country has given me a second home and a better life.
“At first, I just wanted to fight back, but once I began the sport I fell in love with it. From then on I dreamed of becoming a national champion, a world champion and hopefully one day an Olympic champion.
“Where I come from, not everybody has this dream. It’s live a nine-to-five, work hard, have a family. But I want to do this real bad, and I want to inspire.”
Along with being his coach, Graham is also the CEO of the Champions Initiative, a charity working with 20 communities across the country to establish youth-focused boxing academies.
Graham said the academy works with many refugee kids, but Yusof stood out from the start.
“The biggest challenge was teaching him the science of the sport,” Graham said. “What stood out was the strength he brought from his background. He grew up in an aggressive environment and when he walked into the academy, he applied that same pressure.
“Early on that helps in boxing because you can rely on aggression, but long-term it doesn’t work. We’ve been teaching him discipline, how to control himself and compete under pressure.
“He barely spoke a word of English, but he was committed and quickly became a great addition to the academy. Slowly and steadily, he’s kept working and now he’s where he is today.”
Known by the nickname The Gatekeeper, Yusof pinpoints the moment he decided to take boxing seriously.
“I realised I wanted to take boxing seriously after my second bout,” he said. “I’d been training but not properly, and I gassed out and got beaten. From then on, I promised myself I’d never let that happen again. I’ve trained harder ever since and every fight motivates me to win more.”
To help learn how to remain calm under pressure, Graham would train Yusof by having his sparring partners deliberately step on his toes or push him around the ring. Over the next eight months the change was clear, Yusof learned how to breathe, keep a cool head and problem solve while under pressure – he became almost unstoppable inside the ropes.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned from boxing is discipline,” Yusof said. “That’s something I use in day-to-day life, in and out of the ring. No matter how I feel, if I have to do something, I’ll do it.”
Now Yusof has had 30 fights, winning 25 of them.
Next week’s championships will also mark Yusof’s comeback from a hand injury. He will enter as the top seed in his age and weight category, aiming to defend his crown.
His performances in 2024 led to him being named Sportsperson of the Year at Naenae College. He also trains on a scholarship at the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport (NZCIS) in Upper Hutt, the same facility used by the Wellington Phoenix, the Hurricanes and the All Blacks.
“It definitely makes me feel like I’m training alongside greatness,” Yusof said. “Obviously they play different sports, but they’ve put in the work for years, and that’s what I plan to do.
“I still look up to these other fellas, from all kinds of sports, but it pushes me more seeing them. I want to be like them one day, and better.”
Graham said Yusof has become an inspiration to others from similar backgrounds.
“We’re really proud of him, just as we are of the thousands of young people who go through our organisation,” Graham said. “But it’s great to see him now reaching the top levels of the boxing scene.
“We’ve taken him into youth prisons, where he was sparring and playing around with the boys, and they loved him.
“He’s represented us overseas, helped run volunteer classes, he’s really the full package of what we want to see coming out of the academy.”
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.